


of pillow forts and cheeky dragons

by Smiley5494



Series: Merthur Week 2020 [4]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Court Sorcerer Merlin (Merlin), Day 4, Day 4: “What are you hiding Merlin?” + Fun, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Fluff, Fun, King Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), M/M, Merthur Week 2020, Merthur are married, She/Her Pronouns for Aithusa (Merlin), Tooth-Rotting Fluff, and aithusa deserves the world, dragons are the absolute sweetest, this isn't mentioned but its important to me that you know this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:13:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28273671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Smiley5494/pseuds/Smiley5494
Summary: Day 4: “What are you hiding Merlin?” + Fun“But a pillow fort?” Gwen had asked, and Merlin thought she had no right to sound so judgemental when he knew she and Morgana built themselves one not long before. He nodded sagely, and Aithusa wriggled in his grasp, fidgety and excitable.
Relationships: Aithusa & Merlin (Merlin), Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Series: Merthur Week 2020 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2067861
Comments: 12
Kudos: 88
Collections: Merthur Week 2020





	of pillow forts and cheeky dragons

Merlin got Morgana’s help in rounding up and sneaking Aithusa into the castle, and he got Gwen’s help in collecting all of the unused pillows and blankets. He directed them both to an unused room as far from his and Arthur’s chambers as he could find.

The only thing he explicitly told either of the women was that under no circumstances were they to tell Arthur about what he was doing.

“I want to see how long it takes for him to notice,” Merlin admitted when Gwen pressed for more details. “Besides, I’m Aithusa’s dragonlord, I need to act dragonlord-ish—and Arthur forbade me from bringing her into the castle.”

“But a pillow fort?” Gwen had asked, and Merlin thought she had no right to sound so judgemental when he knew she and Morgana built themselves one not long before. He nodded sagely, and Aithusa wriggled in his grasp, fidgety and excitable.

“‘lin!” She said brightly, a slight lisp marring Merlin’s name. She was still young, and the language didn’t come as easily as dragonspeak. Merlin didn’t move, but Gwen positively melted, and she scratched Aithusa on the one spot just under her chin. Aithusa chirped and wriggled even more.

“Aithusa,” Merlin said seriously, looking the little dragon in the eye, “this is Gwen, she’s trustworthy. Can you say Gwen for me?”

“‘wen, ‘wen!”

“Good girl, Aithusa.”

 _“Oh,”_ Gwen breathed, and she smiled brightly at Merlin, “I’ll leave you to it, have fun!”

The pillow fort was built in an instant with the help of magic, and Aithusa took to it with all the excitement of a small child allowed to play. She clambered all over the pile of pillows, tearing a few with her claws and teeth, but Merlin followed along behind her and repaired them.

Aithusa chirped and cooed, and she pounced on the pillows and burrowed beneath them. Merlin watched, pleased with her obvious excitement until he could put off the council meeting no longer and had to leave her alone. He made sure to open the window as a just-in-case, but closed and locked the door behind him.

“I’ll be back, sweetheart,” he promised the closed door, “I’ll never leave you locked away or hidden.”

Merlin couldn’t concentrate on the meeting, and it was only thanks to Leon’s detailed note-keeping that Merlin even knew what it was about. He fidgeted in his seat and once it was finally finished he was the first out of the door.

He made a beeline for the room with Aithusa—cursing his decision to make it as far from the council rooms as possible—and went to open the door, only to be stopped by Arthur.

“Say, Merlin,” Arthur said brightly, “I wonder if you can tell me what the council meeting was about?”

“Uhh,” Merlin said dumbly, leaning against the door, “taxes.”

“Crops actually,” Arthur corrected, “What _are_ you hiding, Merlin? You didn’t bring that dragon here did you.”

“No,” Merlin lied.

“You _did_.”

 _“No_. I’m…” he paused, searching for something that would work. “…having an affair?”

 _“Mer_ lin!” Arthur laughed, and Merlin knew he was a goner—he’d cave in an instant and then Arthur would be disappointed. Merlin didn’t want to upset his husband, and he also didn’t want to send Aithusa away. “If you’re going to lie, maybe you shouldn’t make your excuse into a question.”

“Oh,” Merlin deflated, “Yeah, I brought Aithusa here. I couldn’t just _leave_ her! She’s just a baby—a hatchling—and I’m her dragonlord, it’s my _duty_ to care for her—”

“—Merlin,” Arthur interrupted, “I’m not angry. If anything, I’m proud of you, and I want to meet her.”

“Oh!” Merlin opened the door and ushered Arthur inside. “She’s just in here!”

Merlin watched as Arthur’s eyes widened in shock and surprise at seeing the mound of pillows. He checked over them, and finding no tears, smiled even wider. Aithusa poked her head out from a pillow next to Merlin, and she chirped questioningly at Arthur.

“Aithusa, honey,” Merlin said brightly, “this is my husband, Arthur, he’s the one I told you about—always wanting to go fight things with pointy metal sticks. Did I ever tell you how he proposed?”

“‘lin!” Aithusa chirped, “‘thur!”

Arthur looked at Merlin, then back to the tiny dragon, and sighed. Merlin knew the look in his eyes, it was the same one he’d had whenever Merlin did something technically illegal but Arthur would let it slide.

“Alright, fine.” Arthur sighed, “she can stay, but she’s not coming into our room to sleep! She can sleep here with the _entire castle’s stock of pillows, Mer_ lin.”


End file.
